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Thursday, January 23, 2014

The Devils have recalled left wing Joe Whitney from Albany of the AHL and he is on the ice for today's practice at Prudential Center.

Whitney, who will turn 26 on Feb. 6, was leading Albany with 36 points (16 goals, 20 assists) in 40 games. He also led Albany last season with 26 goals and 51 points in 66 games and in 2011-12 with 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists) in 72 games.

The Devils had an open roster spot after sending Reid Boucher down Wednesday.

"He has done nothing wrong by any means," Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said of Boucher today. "We've just got to get him down there and doing what he does best, scoring, and get him in a regular routine."

Whitney, who is generously listed at 5-foot-6, 170 pounds, is skating today at left wing on the top line with Travis Zajac and Jaromir Jagr. He is wearing No. 9 on his helmet. That number was worn previously this season by Mattias Tedenby and Mike Sislo.

"With everybody becoming healthy we've got to try to find a left wing for Travis and Jagr," Lamoriello said. "So, we're going to give Joe a chance. He's leading us in scoring in the minors, he led us last year and he deserves the opportunity and we'll just go from there."

Whitney won national championships in 2008 and 2010 at Boston College. After putting up 31 points (five goals, 26 assists) in 39 games in his senior season of 2010-11, he played one AHL game for Portland, notching an assist, and then attended the Devils' prospect development camp that summer as an unsigned, undrafted player. Whitney's strong play in the prospects camp earned him an AHL contract.

After Whitney led Albany in scoring again last season, the Devils signed him to his first NHL contract -- a two-year, two-way deal that carries an NHL cap hit of $567,500.

Now, he's going to get a chance to play on the Devils' top line with a future Hall of Famer.

"This is one of Chris' boys," Lamoriello said, referring to son, Chris, who is the Albany GM. "Like Stephen Gionta and Peter Harrold (also Boston College products), people that have character that he's seen in college, that you just believe in watching them every night. It's almost like the relationship with John Madden when you went to watch Brendan Morris play (at the University of Michigan). It's an intangible that you see in someone, a competiveness. But you never know. You hope. Not everything works out like that. Stephen came through the same route and I'm sure he saw what happened to Stephen and that's why he wanted to come here."

Lamoriello said Whitney has worked hard to overcome his lack of size.

"He competes every second, he has good hockey sense and he knows how to handle his size as far as his positioning," Lamoriello said. "He's been extremely consistent and the things that we thought he had to improve on last year, I think he has. So, he deserves that opportunity to see what he can do."

What did Whitney need to improve on?

"Consistency shift after shift," Lamoriello said. "Just consistency in certain areas, which is a very normal thing. He wasn't in the league that long and you have to get used to the league. He got used to the league and he adjusted and he accepted what he had to do. And he's made the most of it. He's got 16 goals now. He had 26 last year and led the team in scoring. So, we'll see."

Boucher, 20, had two goals and five assists in 23 NHL games since being called up from Albany on Dec. 4. Lamoriello said the decision to send him down had nothing to do with making sure he was eligible to play in the AHL during the Olympic break. If Boucher played in more than 15 of the team''s final 20 games before the break, he would not have been eligible to play in Albany during the break.

"That will never get in the way as far as making decisions," Lamoriello said. "These games are too important. We're not making any roster decisions to do with the Olympic break or people can't go because of time. This is hockey, totally hockey."

Lamoriello added that no decisions will be made concerning the roster just to make a player eligible to play in the AHL during the Olympic break.

"There's no decisions that will be made on (that)," he said. "They will be hockey decisions. Whether they're interpreted a different way or you look into something, I can't help that. But I can assure you we're going to have the best roster as we can here. That's what it's all about."

***Center Adam Henrique is practicing in his usual spot today on the line with Ryane Clowe and Michael Ryder after leaving Tuesday's 7-1 win over St. Louis after being struck in the hand with the puck.

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.